Supreme Court stays expulsion of rebel MPs from House
MPs Theodore Ssekikubo, Nsereko and embattled Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago at Supreme Court- Photo by Faiswal Kasirye
The Supreme Court has stayed the expulsion from Parliament of the four MPs expelled by the National Resistance Movement – Organisation party.
The supreme Court has also ordered the Speaker of Parliament and the Electoral Commission not to hold any by-elections to replace the MPs until the main application is disposed of by the same court.
The ruling comes only hours after the Electoral Commission announced April 17 as a date for the by-elections to replace the expelled MPs who include Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga County), Barnabas Tinkasimire (Buyaga County), Muhammad Nsereko (Kampala Central) and Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa County East).
The panel of five judges: John Wilson Tsekooko, Stella Arach Amoko, Banjamin Odoki, Galdino Okello, and Christine Kitumba unanimously agreed that the expelled MPs be allowed back to Parliament to discharge their duties.
The ruling was delivered by Justice John Wilson Tsekooko. In his ruling, Tsekooko stopped the Electoral Commission from implementing the February orders to hold by-elections until an application by the expelled MPs is disposed of.
Commissions chairperson, Mr. Badru Kiggundu, at a press briefing in Kampala today confirmed that the Commission had been ordered by Parliament to conduct the by-elections to replace the four legislators. However, he said they would stop the process if they received an order to the contrary.
